Naruto: Chikagami: The Blood's Mirror
by Dark Patrician
Summary: A mirror, a reflective surface that reflects an image.  Naruto Uzumaki is a living mirror, cursed to copy the kekkai genkai around him.  How can Naruto survive the torment of bearing the Chikagami?  Rated T for now.
1. Prologue: The Stage is Set

_The universe as we know it is the end result of a myriad of events, choices, actions, and dumb luck. In the world of fiction, the universe is created by an author, the architect for the universe of Naruto is __Masashi Kishimoto. I am not Masashi Kishimoto, just a man who respects his work and would like to present an alternate view. So let's see what would happen if some elements of Naruto's life were to change and witness the creation of Naruto: _Chikagami**.**

Prologue: The Stage is Set; The Players Assembled

October 10, a date that would live in infamy, for this was the day that the Kyuubi no Kitsune, the feared Nine Tailed Fox Demon attacked the village of Konoha. No defense mounted was substantial enough to stop the beast, just slow it for a bit, but ultimately each defense fell. Many good lives were lost that day; mothers, brothers, fathers, sons all lost because of the equivalent of oversized rabid animal. It is on this day, amongst the carnage and destruction that our story begins.

The hospital of Konoha was busy with the constant influx of wounded from the Kyuubi's attack. The staff was stretched to the limit making it very easy for some individuals to fall through the cracks, especially those who had little chance to survive.

Inside one of the hospital rooms were a woman and a man. They both knew that the red haired woman was dying but the man refused to say it out loud.

"Do you remember the first time we met?" the woman asked. "I thought you were so cold and impersonal."

"And you melted through my heart," the man replied.

"And I found out what a beautiful soul you had."

"But not as beautiful as yours, **koishii **(_beloved)_. You are the kindest, most beautiful woman I have ever seen."

"I love you," the woman sobbed out, "Only you, there's never been another in my heart, just you."

"Shhh," the man replied, gently brushing the hair off of her forehead, "Save you strength, the doctor will return soon and then you'll be healed…"

"No, I know I don't have much time, please take care of the boy, I don't trust Jiraiya…"

"I will, I promise."

"I wish we had more time together, there are so many things I wanted to do together…I love you so much…" The rest was silenced as the last bits of life left the woman's body. Kushina Namikaze was dead. The man was silent as a few tears fell down the side of his face and he leaned over to kiss his beloved's lips one last time. He quietly straightened up, wiped his eyes, and walked to the door. As he walked, he swore that he would kill the man he held responsible for the death of his beloved Kushina.

Unfortunately, he would never have his chance at revenge because that man had already died. He would learn later that the bastard had died a few minutes before Kushina when he used the Shiki Fujin (Dead Demon Consuming Seal) to seal the Kyuubi into Kushina's and the bastard's son. He would never get to kill Minato Namikaze for causing Kushina's death.

Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage and currently interim Hokage, sighed as he looked down upon the sleeping infant in the Hokage's office. A few hours ago, a weary Hiruzen walked off the battlefield carefully carrying the infant in his arms before bringing him to the Hokage's office. That child was both Sarutobi's greatest success and failure in one; the child symbolized his success in forcing Minato Namikaze, Konoha's most infamous playboy, to settle down and produce an heir for the village, yet the child also symbolized his failure at stopping Minato from sacrificing himself for the village just hours earlier.

'_It should have been me,'_ Sarutobi lamented. _'Minato should be alive now, to lead this village, and to make it stronger, but now his entire legacy now resides in his son, Naruto Namikaze… 'No,'_ Sarutobi corrected in his mind. _'If I call him Namikaze, then Iwa or any of the other nations may try to kill him. For now, until Naruto becomes a strong and loyal ninja of the leaf, he will have to live under a false name, but what?' _Sarutobi's eyes fell on the folder he was going to soon seal away from public record, the truth about Naruto's heritage could not be known until Naruto would defend the village to his dying breath. Then suddenly it hit him, Kushina's mother was the last of the Uzumaki clan who some had whispered had a history that touched Konoha's a few times, among other nations. Nobody would think it odd if Sarutobi gave the name of a long dead clan that was not well known in the public eye to the orphan who held the Kyuubi.

"Let it be known, until such time as Konoha can depend upon him, that Naruto Namikaze is now Naruto Uzumaki," Sarutobi declared filling out a form to make the identity of Naruto Uzumaki his real one. "And may Kami have mercy on my soul." Sarutobi was roused from his musings by a knock on the office door. "Enter," the aged leader ordered, the office door opened, and in walked the leaders of three of the largest clans in Konoha: Hiashi Hyuga, Fugaku Uchiha leader of Konoha's Military Police Force, and Inoichi Yamanaka currently the head of the ANBU interrogation division.

"Report," the interim Hokage ordered.

"The wall was penetrated in Sector 10; repairs to it will begin as soon as the sun rises. There was some minor damage to one corner of the Uchiha district grounds and unfortunately approximately twelve blocks of the civilian residential district were destroyed," Fugaku reported.

"Efforts to recover survivors are already underway; so far we have recovered forty five survivors, most of them in critical condition and have recovered over four hundred corpses, with many more individuals unaccounted for," Hiashi continued.

"Such a tragic senseless waste of life," Sarutobi lamented. "Inoichi, what is the status of our shinobi force?"

"Unfortunately, most of our forces which encountered the Kyuubi have been killed; however, Jonin Yūhiwas reported as preventing most of our younger generation shinobi from confronting the beast," Inoichi explained.

"Good, there's no need for us to lose our future bearers of the Will of Fire," Sarutobi commented, "Anything else?"

"The survivors have been rushed to the hospital, and I have been told that one of the worst injured is your former teammate Danzo, who has sustained massive burns and injuries to the right side of his body. The doctors believe that his shinobi career is over."

"Is that the child?" Hiashi asked, noticing Naruto in his crib for the first time.

"Yes, he's one of the reasons I called you in here, Hiashi. I want you to use your Byakugan to make sure that the Kyuubi's chakra has been completely contained," Sarutobi explained.

"Very well," Hiashi replied, beginning to channel chakra to his eyes to activate his clan's kekkei genkai the Byakugan. Hiashi's vision shifted toward a mostly colorless view with the only true colors coming from the chakra within the pathways of those around him. "The child's chakra pathways appear to be functioning properly although I can see some flecks of red chakra coming from around the child's stomach, but those are being broken down by the child's own blue colored chakra. Am I correct in assuming that the seals will fade visibly unless the child in actively channeling chakra from the beast?"

"Yes," Sarutobi confirmed. "Although I was only aware of there being only one seal when I first saw the designs; he must have placed some extra security measures I was unaware of. No matter, is the child healthy?"

"Yes," Hiashi stated. "The second seal is almost completely invisible even to my sight; it seems to affect the circulatory system in some…" Hiashi fell silent as he narrowed his eyes as he focused at baby Naruto's face.

"Hiashi?" Sarutobi asked, silently praying to Kami the Hiashi hadn't noticed any sort of resemblance to Minato, "What's wrong?" Before Hiashi could reply, baby Naruto's little face scrunched up and he began wailing loudly.

"The child's chakra is rushing to his eyes, its as if he's trying to…" Hiashi fell silent as Naruto's eyes opened; the once deep blue eyes were gone and in their place were the exact same pale white eyes that Hiashi was looking at him with." Sarutobi's pipe clattered to the floor as he expressed the same thought as the other were silently thinking to themselves. "What the hell is that?"

(_Author Note: At the time I conceived this story; little to nothing was known about Minato and Kushina. As such, my versions of the past are drastically different than canon, and I can live with that. Now, I have since then found out some facts about both and…call me conceded, but I prefer my versions of events. Don't like my version of the past? Tough. Maybe I'll incorporate some canon into the past here, but don't count on it, although I did keep Kurenai's father's moment from canon. Kishimoto has his view of Naruto and I have mine. Besides, if I followed his rules 100% this wouldn't be fan-fiction wouldn't it? Don't worry, everything will be explained in time. And now for the Omake.)_

_**Omake:**_

Hiashi held baby Naruto in his hands underneath the child's armpits. "It doesn't look so intimidating to me." Hiashi turned to look at his two fellow clan heads and then back at the baby not noticing the child's diaper had fallen off. "So you're the jinchūriki…" Naruto's young bladder let loose with a mighty stream of urine on Hiashi's face. "…And you peed on me. You've made a powerful enemy today, young one."

Inoichi nudged Fugaku in the side, "For having the 'all seeing eye' he didn't see that coming did he?"


	2. Chapter 1: Five Years Later

_Author Notes: My thanks to all of you who read the first chapter and came to read this one. Special thanks to: 2Lazy4This, ConnectFire611, Dour, heavenzhell, kyunaru, maplezhar, Maxpaynner, overlord7, and Raydal Lifesphere for putting this story on your alert lists; angelusjmw, Dour, elytsverak, kakashi8890, m0dToaD, Mafia-Maori-Spartan, nobother, OutlawKnight, pointblank135, Seax, sess2eddie, TheQueenofAnime, and Yugi-no-Yami for adding it your favorite story list; ConnectFire611 for putting this story in a Community Archive; and finally Maxpaynner for being the first, and as of publish time, only reviewer of this story. I hope that this chapter will live up to and exceed your expectations. But enough of the notes, onto the story!_

**Chapter One: Five Years Later**

A lot can happen in the span of five years: people grow older, destroyed buildings can be rebuilt, newborns become young children, vengeful old people can set events in motion causing dramatic shifts in the geopolitical state of the world potentially leading toward a somewhat peaceful coalition consisting of the five major military powers of the world uniting to fight a group of at most ten people (yeah, right) and reasonable, rational thinking men and women can forget about blaming a five year old child for circumstances he was not behind but was ultimately a victim of. Except for that last one, all that happened in Konoha.

But given what happened at the end of the last chapter, it would probably be best to fill in what's happened since then and now wouldn't it? You see, once the shock of a blond-haired baby possessing a fully developed Byakugan wore off, the three clan heads and acting Hokage discovered that a few seconds after Hiashi shut down his Byakugan that Naruto did the same. This in turn led to a series of experiments over the following days under the watchful eye of the aged Hokage: when an Uchiha activated their Sharingan within a certain distance from Naruto; Naruto's eyes would become an exact duplicate of that Uchiha's, the same would happen for any Byakugan that would activate around him. If multiple Uchiha or Hyuga had their eyes active then Naruto's eyes would only copy the most developed (most tome in the Uchiha's case) leaving him with the strongest eyes of all possible.

For non dojutsu bloodlines, the process wasn't always so visible. As Hiashi watched on with the Byakugan outside of Naruto's imitation range, a series of randomly chosen individuals were led into a room where they wouldn't see the baby and were told to activate their kekkei genkai until instructed otherwise. In almost every case, Hiashi would document some sort of change in the boy, whether it be a chakra rush to the ears and nose to enhance hearing and smell for the Inuzakas or a body wide increase in calorie burning and malleability so that body parts could grow in size when an Akimichi clan member would get close to Naruto. In addition to the physical changes, one more thing would happen to young Naruto, although given the sight of a child taking on any kekkei genkai near him it was ignored, was the fact that Naruto would cry when the changes happened to him.

In the end, the council of Konoha (i.e. the various clan heads, Sarutobi, his two advisors/former teammates Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane, elected ninja to represent the non-clan related ninja of the village and a small group of elected officials from the non-ninja population of Konoha referred to as the Civilian Council) were filled in on Naruto's abilities. After some brief discussion, it was decided to tentatively to call Naruto's ability the _**Mira**_**_chishio _**or "Mirror Blood," if it was a kekkei genkai as Sarutobi privately hoped, that appeared in a child fathered by Naruto, then the council would push for Naruto to impregnate as many women as possible to add another weapon to Konoha's arsenal. The fact that there was a baby with a previously unseen ability was quickly declared an S-rank secret; it became the third fastest S-rank secret to be known to the general public after the identity of the baby that the giant demon fox was sealed into (cue cliché angry mob here) and a story about Jiraiya disguising himself as Orochimaru to sleep with a lord's daughter with a snake fetish that we don't have time to cover here.

What really saved young Naruto from the misplaced wrath of the angry mob was the beseeching of a newly reinstated Sarutobi Hiruzen to the position of Hokage, which also lead to a discussion whether or not to refer to him as the Sandaime (Third) Hokage or Godaime (Fifth) Hokage for a while. Sarutobi immediately instituted new laws which prevented all those who knew the truth about the Kyuubi's sealed vessel from revealing it to anybody else, especially Naruto. Sarutobi planned to reveal that fact himself when he deemed Naruto ready and loyal enough to handle it.

Back to the Present:

Somewhere in the northern half of the Land of Earth

Mochi Meiki was not having what one might consider being a good day. That morning the Iwa jonin had received orders to take his genin squad consisting of two of the children of the village's most prominent merchants and that year's dead last kunoichi out to villages on the furthest northern coasts and find out what was happening there, Mochi briefly wondered if it had anything to do with the fact that yesterday Mochi had spilled hot tea on Tsuchikage Ōnoki's wife.

Mochi's three students were constant annoyances on his patience with their constant requests for help during their training rather than letting him sit and watch the clouds in peace. So the four of them left the village shortly after dawn, stopped at a little roadside park complete with benches, ate a few bites of lunch, and then were attacked viciously by an unknown ninja or ninjas in black robes. The giant ram he summoned was quickly decapitated, his students ripped to shreds, and worst of all…he never got to finish his lunch, and the sandwich had just the right balance of sweet and savory elements too.

Mochi snapped out of his lament in time to dodge the… 'Was that a hand he just launched at me?' Mochi thought as he saw what looked like a human fist fly within inches of his face. The flying appendage flew in a small arc before reattaching itself to its owner, a tall, bald man with a very thick neck, no ears, a large jaw, and an odd ripple like pattern to his eyes.

"You want to try funny attacks? Well get a load of this one, Doton: Doryū Taiga

(Earth Style: Great Mud River)!" The bald ninja briefly lost his balance as the ground he was standing on turned to mud in an instant, giving Mochi all the time he needed to complete his second technique. "Doton: Doryūdan (Earth Release: Earth Dragon Bullet)!" The patch of earth in front of Mochi rose up and formed a dragon-like head to fire projectiles of concentrated mud at his opponent. "Katon: Karyūdan (Fire Style: Fire Dragon Missile)!" Mochi inhaled and released a stream of fire which transformed the mud balls into spheres of flaming lava. Almost simultaneous with the release of the fire technique, the bald ninja's right arm opened and launched dozens of small missiles toward the oncoming barrage.

In both men's minds they saw the same three possible outcomes to the attack: 1.) Their attacks would be equal and just result in an explosion between them; 2.) Their attack would be the stronger of the two and would continue on to strike their opponent and destroy them; 3.) Their attack would be the weaker of the two and they would be struck by their opponents attack. Neither opponent was expecting what would happen as two words were shouted over the sound of both attacks, "Shinra Tensei (Heavenly Subjugation of the Omnipresent God or Almighty Push (take your pick))!"

Mochi was shocked to see all of his lava blasts suddenly flew perpendicular to their original trajectory. This unusual course correction distracted Mochi long enough for him to be struck by the bald ninja's missile attack turning him into a stain on the ground.

The victorious ninja straightened his back and turned to face his assistant, a near six foot tall man with his medium length spiky orange hair, a metal bar through each ear, three studs through the side of its upper nose, and one spike stud on each end of the bottom lip.

"Thanks a lot," the bald one said sarcastically. "If you hadn't interfered, my missiles would have neutralized the attack and knocked out the ninja so I could interrogate him. Now look at him, a smear on the dirt, do you know how difficult it was to find a group like this? Why are you here anyway Yahiko?"

"What kind of friend would I be if I let you go off on your own to fight some enemy ninja, Nagato? Why did you choose this bunch anyway?"

"Their jonin had signed a summon contract and with the deaths of two of his students, their parents would have become distracted and negligent causing the economy of Iwa to decline," Nagato explained.

"What is it with you and summon animals?" Yahiko asked, "Last month you captured a giant panda summon, the month before that a giant centipede, what's up with that?"

"One less ninja that can summon means one less giant animal to damage the landscape and cause unnecessary destruction like the Sannin's summons did," Nagato explained.

"Are you sure that's all?" Yahiko asked, somewhat teasingly.

"It's also a bad influence from Animal Path, seems he was an obsessive collector and that trait has carried over into summon animals. Personally, I blame you."

"Sure, Mr. My-Rare-Dojutsu-Let's-Me-Reanimate-Corpses, blame the guy you brought back before checking to make sure if he was dead."

"You rammed yourself onto the kunai I was holding in my hand; it impaled your stomach and blood came out of your mouth! What was I supposed to think? 'Oh, looks like Yahiko is drooling cranberry juice again?'"

"One time! And to be fair it was the first time, I ever saw Konan wearing a very small bikini!" A cough interrupted Nagato before he could come up with a response. Yahiko reanimated body and the one Nagato was actively controlling turned as Pein's Naraka path made his presence known. That particular body had once belonged to a tall, stocky, muscular man, with a spiky mop of gray-brown color hair. Its particular piercings included among many numerous others, a circular stud on the bridge of its nose and a diagonal row of studs on each of its cheeks. Behind the body designated for restoration and interrogation, stood the massive ram that had briefly opposed Pein, its eyes now replaced with duplicates of Nagato's own Rinnegan and various grey metal spikes piercing the beast's hide.

"The Outer Path has restored the ram and it shall be incorporated into our summons' group immediately," Naraka Path reported.

"Great," Yahiko replied. "Let's hurry up and get back to Ame, Konan's going to get pissed at us if we're late for lunch again." And with that three of the Paths of Pein along with the newly revived Giant Ram disappeared in clouds of smoke as they were summoned back home.

Meanwhile back in Konoha:

The children of Konohagakure were a happy, playful lot. Ever since the tragic loss of almost one tenth of the entire population of the village every child born was seen as a precious commodity, a precious treasure, a hope for the future, and a gift from Kami…Naruto Uzumaki was not one of these children.

Even though he was only five years old, Naruto was smart enough to come up with his own version of the truths of the world, facts that after everything he experienced were true and unchangeable.

Kami must hate him.

If reincarnation does exist, Naruto's past self must have been the worst human being of all time to be treated like this.

I, Naruto Uzumaki, must become strong enough one day to leave this Kami-forsaken slice of hell that was known as Konoha without fear of being forced back into it.

Why? Why for all intents and purposes should a five year hate a place and the people within it so deeply? To change a phrase by a famous playwright, "The fault, dear reader, lies not within the stars but within Naruto himself.' Or more specifically within Naruto's blood. Naruto's kekkei genkai the Mirachishio…

**"**Mirachishio," Naruto would mutter angrily when someone would say it, "It's my damn kekkei genkai, so I'll use my damn name for it: **Chikagami**** (Blood Mirror)." **

Naruto's kekkei genkai, the Chikagami, forced his body to react toward any kekkei genkai that was active around him, by changing his body to the point where it would replicate the kekkei genkai in question. The worst parts to this were that 1.) It was completely against his will so he couldn't stop the changes, and that 2.) All of the changes caused him pain so by extension every kekkei genkai wielder around him was causing him pain. Given the fact that almost half of Konoha's population consisted of kekkei genkai wielders, Naruto frequently found himself suffering bursts of pain.

Now if it was just the blood wielders that caused Naruto pain, Naruto could find ways of maybe coping with it and moving on with his life, but there were more problems, the civilians. Now it wasn't as if there were daily "Naruto hunts" or death threats to the child, but none of the civilians Naruto had ever met showed him any bit of kindness. They would briefly look at him and then turn away ignoring him outright, or they might glare at him with just barely restrained rage, or worst of all in Naruto's mind, they would ask the nearest person with a kekkai genkai to show it off, triggering Naruto's Chikagami and hurting him. Nobody would help him if he vocalized the pain, they'd just walk buy or watch with just a hint of glee on their faces.

Even though, it was stated that Naruto didn't suffer from daily hunts, it wasn't as if it never happened. Once in a while, some wretch of a human being would drink just a little too much alcohol, would remember one terrible result of the Kyuubi attack, would take some form of abuse, would want to do something to make themselves a name or a combination of these and/or other factors and they would snap. If Naruto was in easy striking distance, then the wretch would find a way to get Naruto out of sight before attempting to cause him harm.

Which lead to the next group Naruto had issues with…the ANBU. Usually, these masked ninja would save young Naruto before any real damage could be done, the problem Naruto had was the ANBU never helped him soon enough. Naruto knew that at least they were around because the Chikagami was reacting to something. The worst of these ANBU, Naruto recalled, was a dog faced one. Not only would the dog masked ninja take special care to move in and out of the Chikagami's range causing small bursts of pain in Naruto's eye, but he would also only stop the wretch before any life threatening blows could be struck letting him get in a few strikes beforehand. Of course the same couldn't be said for the bird faced ANBU, he may have had a kekkai genkai but he didn't activate it and he didn't let anybody who was going to hurt Naruto get close to him.

"It is nice," Naruto thought, "That there's one decent human being in this damn village." Naruto was shaken out of his memories by a painful growl in his stomach. "Looks like I'm going dumpster diving for dinner again," Naruto commented annoyed. The lady in charge of the orphanage had told him to leave as he was one of the oldest ones there (Yeah, if you didn't count those thirty or so kids that were older than him), there was no room (Well if you had everybody sleep in the same room there might not be), and he could take care of himself (He couldn't). "So here I am," Naruto stated, "No home, no way to buy food, nobody to help me, digging through the trash for scraps. And with my luck," Naruto added ruefully, "An Aki…, Akim….fat ninja with face marks would come around, make my Chikiagami break down my food faster, and I'd go hungry again."

Naruto, small, blond, whiskered child that he was, stood on top of a box so he could reach inside the trash can and see what half-eaten food stuffs were available. The next thing that happened would change Naruto's life forever. The young boy lost his balance as he was half-in, half-out of the can causing him to fall in, knock the can off balance before falling over on its side. The momentum of the fall in turn shifted Naruto causing the can to start rolling quickly out of the alley and collide with…

**_Author Notes: Yep, cliffhanger, get used to it._**

_Editing note: You can blame or thank Maxpaynner for this but I had a typo in my last author note, I meant to say _**_"_**_As such, my versions of their past…" but instead wrote __**"As such, my versions of the past…"**__ and in his/her (and the only as of release time) review, interest was expressed on an alternate past. My original plan was just to change Minato and Kushina's past but after some thought I realized that that would be boring, so I'm nudging the time stream in different places and seeing what happens. So if you have an idea for an event to be nudged, offer it up, but be warned: a.) I'm not going to kill Sasuke, it'd just make things tougher in the long run; b.) I need an example of what would be a result (ex. Anko never returning to Konoha means they no nothing about the Curse Seal (not using it by the way)); c.) I'm not looking for suggestions on pairings right now…personally romance while in a form is going to happen, isn't the defining trait right now._

_You know I have never read a fan-fic where non-clan ninjas in Konoha had any sort of political power; you'd think that they'd have some sort of representation on the councils._

_Mochi Meiki if I translate right means "do not remember," he shouldn't come up again in the story so don't bother trying to remember him. Now to explain the second section of the chapter a little better…since Yahiko is alive in a way, Nagato doesn't feel like changing all of his paths to resemble him, it's a psychological thing, I think._

_Alright, now if you want another chapter, I'm going to need some reviews people. If you don't know what to say about the fic then how about answering questions like: should I stick to a more dub version of writing, no -san, -chan, -kun, etc. Or should I use them, although to be fair there's one I'm sticking to pure English with because no matter how many times I say it in my head it makes me smile._

**_And now for what got such critical acclaim last time…another Omake! No wait…Two Omakes!_**

**Omake the First:**

"It's also a bad influence from Animal Path, seems he was an obsessive collector and that trait has carried over into summon animals."

"Really, what did he collect?"

"Ninja info cards," Nagato answered.

"What the heck are those?"

"It's hard to explain, my ninja info cards, but these cards, my ninja info cards, they're chakra encoded so they don't look like much but…" Nagato paused and looked at the sky.

"What's wrong?" Yahiko asked.

"It's funny, but for some reason I felt like I starting to perform an internet meme."

**Omake the Second: **

"Thanks a lot," the bald one said sarcastically. "If you hadn't interfered, my missiles would have neutralized the attack and knocked out the ninja so I could interrogate him. Now look at him, a smear on the dirt, do you know how difficult it was to find a group like this? ..." Asura path's rant was cut off as his right fore arm clattered to the ground. "And now my arm has fallen off, this is just great."

"Well why don't you just ask Sasori to fix it?" Yahiko commented.

"Oh, no. You remember what happened last time Sasori tried to fix this body."

Nagato, controlling his Naraka path, along side Yahiko/Deva path entered the laboratory that had been set aside for Akasuna no Sasori or Sasori of the Red Sand, where the Asura path body was lying on one of the lab tables while it was being repaired.

"Sasori, I take it you have good news for me?" Nagato asked.

"Yes Leader-sama," Sasori replied. "I have completed the repairs and had time to upgrade your body."

"Upgrade? We didn't talk about any upgrades."

"Just reactivate your body and I'll explain it." Asura path's eyes snapped open and he quickly sat up and slid himself off of the table.

"Now this is an upgrade I'm most proud of," Sasori began. "With this upgrade, this body of yours will be able to fly. All you have to do is say, 'Go, Go, Asura Helicopter.'"

"'Go, Go, Asura Helicopter?'" Asura path repeated. Suddenly, the top of his head split open and a pair of helicopter blades attached to a motor and handlebars popped out of the now opened skull.

"How did you fit that inside of there?" Yahiko asked. But before Sasori could respond, the helicopter motor sprang to life causing the Asura path's body to be launched straight up into the air _(CRASH!) _and got itself stuck in the ceiling.

"Guess we should have tested it outside," Sasori muttered. The powerful motor continued to whirl only now with the blades firmly jammed in the ceiling the rotational power had nowhere to go but down causing the body to spin violently around until it fell apart in a shower of parts. Sasori looked down at the heap of parts for a second before commenting. "Huh, looks like I should have used the Phillips head instead of the Slotted Screws."


	3. Chapter 2: Legacy

_My apologies for not doing this last time I posted in this fiction…didn't know that this had happened to me but…many, many thanks to kanakmp for making me one of their favorite authors after just the first chapter! And thanks to everybody who has either favorited and/or alerted either this or myself or anything else I wrote._

_Author's Note: Given that this is a fan-fiction, and I said I was already going to do it, the past is going to be muddled, changed, whatever, but since this info comes from a filler arc…who cares? So if I make events occur earlier or later than canon…I did it on purpose, so there. _

_Also I want to talk about something that maybe spoilers so…quick scroll down if you don't want to risk depriving yourself of enjoying something…._

_Holy Crap! Iruka could have died taking that giant shuriken to the back! _

_Yep, I spoiled chapter 1, if you haven't read that yet…why are you reading Naruto fan-fiction? It's going to get awfully confusing not knowing who's original and who's not._

_Anyway seriously, Chapter 511 pages 5-9, does anybody else want to know what Kishimoto was on and where to get it, because it took me a while to get through those pages because I kept asking myself…"Why do they look like that?" _

_Chapter 512, well now I know how Madara is going to be a credible threat. _

_Chapter 513…I thought I was reading a fake, that if it really is a real chapter…is either going to A.) Be heavily censored or B.) Give Parents Groups ammunition against manga. In the event of A…eh, all right we can live with it; in the event of B grab your nearest sharp objects and be prepared to form an angry mob!_

_Chapter 514, see Chapter 513 and add a couple more "!" after mob. Well Kabuto's dangerous rating just shot up there, along with my belief that he's really a mutant. I think I saw what Madara's doing in a fan-fic once…although unless kekkai genkai related body parts behave differently than non…shouldn't necrosis have caused it to become unusable? _

_Chapter 515…holy crap, when did Kabuto become the top bad guy? Seriously, what the heck does he need Madara for now? He can just kill him and make a loyal slave out of him and then rule the world...now that is a scary thought._

_(See what I did there? I didn't take away from the surprises in store…I've added to the readers desire to read it. And yes, I know its up to 526 in Japan right now, but I don't feel like doing this for all those chapters, and I consider that a spoiler warning should be issued if you feel like talking about events past whatever the latest chapter that was published in the US or wherever you live occurred.)_

_Naruto doesn't belong to me, for better or worse, its Kishimoto's; but I can dream can't I?_

_Previously on Chikagami:_

_Naruto, small, blond, whiskered child that he was, stood on top of a box so he could reach inside the trash can and see what half-eaten food stuffs were available. What happened next would change Naruto's life forever. The young boy lost his balance as he was halfway-in can causing him to fall in, knocking the can off balance before falling over on its side. The momentum of the fall in turn caused the can to start rolling quickly out of the alley and collide with…_

**Chapter Two: Legacy**

The now garbage clad Naruto Uzumaki cautiously poked his head out of the garbage can he was in and locked eyes with the man he had hit. Those eyes belonged to one of the scariest people Naruto had ever seen; he was dressed in a solid black jumpsuit with sections of metal armor on his chest and shoulders. A black bandana covered his entire head with the metal plate directly over his forehead which sat just above the most intense eyes pair of that Naruto had ever seen. Just below these eyes lay the largest scars Naruto had ever seen: one started just beneath his right eye and ran down at a curve across his right cheek and ending behind his jaw bone, the other was much more recent looking and started just shy of his left eye and ran downward diagonally over his lips and ending just shy of his chin. Naruto had come face-to-face with one of Konoha top investigators, Ibiki Morino.

"Um, hi. I guess I didn't have the right of way," Naruto started with a nervous laugh.

"No," Ibiki replied in his deep voice. "Mind explaining what you were doing in there?"

"I was looking for something," Naruto replied vaguely.

"Something in particular?" Ibiki asked.

"No, not really. I'm just a kid digging in the garbage for fun," Naruto answered with a forced laugh.

"Kid, I'm an expert in interrogation. You're lying, so cut the crap and tell the truth." Naruto tried to form another reasonable lie, but feeling the eyes of the much larger and scarier man boring into him, stripping away all his defenses, Naruto finally admitted the truth.

"Food, supplies, anything useful really. The woman at the orphanage declared me 'fit to take care of myself' and had me removed by force a few days ago," Naruto responded, rubbing his shoulder at the phantom pain from one of the supervisors gripping him too tightly before throwing him into the street.

"Hmm," Ibiki grunted in thought scowling. "I just got out of the hospital a few hours ago after a mission, so I know I don't have much fresh stuff at the house. But I do know that I've got some canned food I can cook for you if you want." Ibiki offered, with a rare hint of sympathy in his voice. "Unless you find yourself preferring the taste of garbage de jour?"

Naruto stared, stunned at the offer from the man, and thought about it. Ibiki didn't have a kekkai genkai and wasn't somebody who asked those with one to activate theirs just to cause Naruto pain, but he also wasn't somebody who had helped Naruto before. Perhaps it was childlike faith or a subconscious desire to be accepted by somebody, or just the gnawing hunger in his gut; but for some reason, Naruto decided to trust Ibiki. "Let's go."

As the unlikely duo set off for Ibiki's apartment, via the back roads at Naruto's insistence, Ibiki afforded himself the chance to look back upon recent events…

It had all started at the Chunnin Exam a month earlier; Ibiki had been called in to act as proctor for the first stage of the examinations. What he hadn't realized at the time was that his little brother Idate was one of the exams participants. For that exams tenth question, Ibiki offered all the participants a choice: Leave and get a chance to retake the test next year, or stay and risk one of their teammates being a genin forever. His brother made the wrong choice and was disqualified. Idate had confronted Ibiki on the issue and Ibiki told him to quit as a ninja.

'Why did I tell him that?' Ibiki asked himself. 'Why was that one of the few times he actually listened to me? I know after our parents' passing we had drifted apart somewhat, but still…was he so mad at me that he did something stupid and almost became a traitor?"

It had been a crippling blow to Ibiki personally; his brother had assisted his then sensei Aoi Rokushō in stealingthe Raijin (Sword of the Thunder God.) Ibiki and two ANBU caught up to the fleeing duo just outside of the border of Ame when his comrades were killed by Aoi and several Ame ninja. Ibiki and Idate were tied up and Ibiki was tortured for information on how to read the scroll, which was the cause of his newest large facial scar. In the end, Ibiki had to feign not caring about Idate anymore even commenting on how threatening his brother would not affect him, even going so far as to tell Idate that he was in the way in order to force him to leave the burning shack.

Having the final words spoken to his brother be fake insults would become one of his greatest regrets in life: along side not telling his parents he loved them more before their deaths, and other events best left buried in the past. Upon his return to Konoha, Ibiki would return the stolen scroll and then declare to the Hokage that his brother was missing and presumed dead; this would be his final act as a protective older brother. With no conclusive proof that he was alive, Konoha's hunter ninja squadron would not be going out of their way to find Idate and would focus on the possibility of Aoi surviving the battle and hunting him. Ibiki could only hope that his brother could find a job he would be as competent in.

If it wasn't for Ibiki's training, he would have been visibly surprised at the fact that they were close to his apartment far sooner than he had anticipated. Apparently, Naruto had known a few good shortcuts to get from one side of town to the other, which made Ibiki wonder exactly how long he had been on the streets. Silently, the duo walked up to Ibiki's apartment and Ibiki unlocked the door, turned on the light, and ushered Naruto in.

"Well here we are, it's not much but its home," Ibiki commented, trying to sound inviting. "Not sure what I've got," he added eyeing the cupboards and refrigerator. Ibiki's search ended with an assortment of canned or premade packaged goods, a moldy loaf of bread, and Ibiki reminding himself for the umpteenth time to clean out the refrigerator. "You got a preference?"

"I'll be fine with just the bread and some water," Naruto answered humbly.

"No," Ibiki half-stated, half-ordered. "I only use the 'bread and water' routine on prisoners I don't need information out of right away." It is worth noting that if somebody who knew Ibiki intimately heard him; they would know he was joking; no prisoner has lasted long enough with him for the bread and water routine to be effective.

"All right we've got some canned corn, doubt you want that," Naruto's head shaking off to the side confirmed Ibiki's suspicions there, "got a can of sardines, don't think you'd like that either, got a few packs of ramen…" Ibiki held up a few packages of the pre-cooked noodle treat when his eyes landed on what was just behind the ramen. "No, what you need is some stew," Ibiki decided setting down the ramen packages and picking up the canned stew. "Stew is more filling and got more of what you need in it." And with that, Ibiki set to work opening the can, heating the contents in a pot, and finally transferring the stew into two bowls for eating.

"Dig in," Ibiki said as he set down their meal. The two ate their meal silently except for the occasional awkward attempts at conversation about the weather, news, etc. Eventually, the stew was completely eaten and Naruto let out a yawn to his slight embarrassment.

"I guess I should get going," Naruto said, hesitantly, not really wanting to leave but rising out of his chair anyway.

"I doubt you'd get a good night's sleep out there," Ibiki answered bluntly. "Look, I've got a couch, it's lumpy but you can sleep on it if you'd like."

"I couldn't…" Naruto began before being cut off by Ibiki. "I insist. You shouldn't have to sleep on the street." Ibiki walked over to his closet, pulled out a spare blanket and pillow, and laid them out on the couch for Naruto.

"You don't have to…" Naruto began again.

"I want to," Ibiki interrupted. "Now, get some sleep." The tired bloodline copier stopped arguing as he looked at Ibiki's uncompromising stare, walked over to the impromptu bed, made himself comfortable, and fell asleep almost instantly. The silent interrogator quietly cleaned up his table and put the dishes in the sink, glancing back to his sleeping guest. Steeling his resolve at what he knew would be a difficult task, Ibiki made a single hand sign and in a quiet cloud of smoke, a duplicate of Ibiki was formed. Already knowing its orders, the clone nodded his head and started the small quiet tasks of making the apartment more habitable and watching over Naruto while the original ran an important errand.

* * *

Danzo Shimura was a complicated man. On the one hand, he was not a compassionate man and would do anything to achieve his goals. Yet on the other hand, he was a patriotic man, absolutely loyal to the village of Konoha even when he didn't agree with the people in power. And on the other, other hand, he was a man with a dream, a dream to unite the world in peace…admittedly a peace in which Konoha rules all of the Elemental Nations, but peace none the less.

Danzo looked down from walkway above one of his ROOT training facilities and the sparring children below. Many of them were orphans from the Kyuubi attack years ago, while others were either ones that would not be missed from the orphanages in the village or taken from outside of Konoha.

It was actually quite the well designed system; children were "adopted" by ROOT operatives from orphanage caretakers who were loyal to the ROOT cause. These caretakers would watch each child and select those who would be the most likely to flourish under the ROOT training program.

Danzo afforded himself a mental smirk as he thought about the system that was set up long ago that he had expanded as time went by. If you asked ten people who knew of the existence of ROOT who created the division, they would all answer Danzo Shimura. If Danzo himself was one of those ten, then nine of them would be wrong, and the tenth would be lying.

The best kept secret in ROOT, known solely by Danzo was that he was not the man who created the organization, but rather the man who had inherited it from its original creator: Tobirama Senju.

As Danzo watched the spars below, his mind drifted back to the days when he first learned of this institution.

Danzo stood in front of the Hokage's desk eager to prove his worth to Konoha once more. Sitting at the chair behind the desk sat Konoha's strongest shinobi, a man who could pull A-ranked Water jutsu out of thin air and wields the famed lightning sword, Raijin no Ken; Danzo was face to face with the grey-haired Nidaime Hokage, Tobirama Senju.

"Hello Danzo, How are you today?" Tobirama asked pleasantly.

"Fine Hokage-sama," Danzo replied formally. "And how are you?"

"At ease Danzo, I'm fine, please take a seat," Danzo nodded as he sat down at the offered chair. "Now then Danzo, I have ordered you here today for an important mission. This is perhaps the single most important mission that anybody in Konoha will undertake. Failure may result in the collapse in Konoha's way of life as we know it. However, while this mission is entirely voluntary and you may refuse to take it, once you hear the specifics of the mission you can no longer refuse and must complete it."

"I understand Hokage-same, I will do everything in my power to succeed." Danzo replied.

"I know you will Danzo, you are the only individual that I trust with both the skills and mindset to complete this mission." The Second Hokage complimented. "What do you know of Konoha's history, specifically mine and my brother's involvement?"

"Our village was founded years ago by your brother Hashirama, Madara Uchiha, and yourself along with your respective clans. Hashirama became the First Hokage, Madara attempted to kill him and was killed himself, Hashirama died a few years ago in battle and you assumed the role of Hokage." Danzo recited.

"Well at least you know the general version the public has agreed on," Tobirama said. "Unfortunately, my actions have not exactly been well known. My brother," Tobirama continued with a hint of anger in his voice as he said 'brother,' "was a dreamer, an idealist, Konoha is his vision for the future: a future where all people live in peace and harmony with each other and nature. Unfortunately, my brother was not what you might call 'details oriented.' Much of Konoha's infrastructure came about from my hard work and effort."

"You were the one who set up the Academy system and ANBU corp." Danzo realized out loud.

"Correct, among other groups," Tobirama replied. "Each of these creations was designed to fill in a void left by my brother such as education or establishing a Special Forces branch responsible for undertaking more dangerous missions. Unfortunately, once these were established my brother found his way to control of them, changing them to conform slightly more to his views."

"What about the Military Police Force?" Danzo asked.

"One of my greater creations," Tobirama answered smiling. "My brother was willing to overlook our past with the Uchiha clan and accept them as a part of our village unconditionally. I, on the other hand, realized the very real threat that the Uchiha posed. To the Uchiha and the general public, the Military Police was created to protect the villagers and free up the ANBU from those tasks; however, the Military Police was actually established to distance the Uchiha from the government of the village and place the clan under a tight surveillance by the ANBU."

"You suspect them of treason?"

"You said it yourself, Madara tried to kill my brother, and our two clans have battled since before I was born. To me, the only good Uchiha is either one who has been completely conditioned to obey Konoha above everything or one who's buried six feet underground." Tobirama answered seriously.

"Then why not be rid of them and kill them all now?"

"Because my brother has cultivated an air of acceptance in Konoha which has brought in new clans and fresh blood to the village. I have here," Tobirama lifted up a piece of paper, "a request from a clan known as the Inuzaka to join our village. They have ninja dog and superb hunting skills, our hunter nin corps efficiency could double virtually over night with the Inuzaka on the case."

"And they wish to work for Konoha?"

"I suspect it's because we have so many trees," Tobirama joked, "but the point is, my brother's image is leading these independent clans to join our village and make it stronger than the other Hidden Villages that have cropped up. If we were to kill of the Uchiha, one of the founding clans, then it would send the wrong message. Konoha would be perceived as being weak and fewer clients would hire our shinobi."

"But if we keep acting to maintain your brother's vision, then Konoha would suffer." Danzo argued.

"I know," Tobirama replied. "Thanks to my brother's vision, eight of the bijuu that he and I gained control over are no longer under our command. I still resent how he just gave them away to the four other 'great nations' to make peace with them. And what happens?"

"They still go to war with us," Danzo answered.

"Yes, now my brother is dead, and even though our current jinchuriki holds the strongest of the nine, eventually she will die and a new vessel will have to be chosen, leaving us at a disadvantage for years. The only good thing that came out of this is the fact that the Nanabi escaped before Suna could re-seal it. But even that's a negative because I've heard reports of Takigakure (Village Hidden in a Waterfall) possessing it."

"Is that why I have been called in Hokage-sama?" Danzo asked. "To infiltrate Takigakure and ascertain the validity of the rumors?"

"No, Danzo. However you may end up connected to that mission in time. As for Taki, ever since that Kakuzu's assassination attempt on my brother failed, Taki has been bending over backwards to dissuade us from attacking."

"Then what exactly is my mission?"

"As I have explained Danzo, my brother's methods provide Konoha with a way to gain allies and friends but it does little to protect us from potential enemies. All it ends up doing is making more and more ninja willing to sacrifice themselves because they believe it is necessary to do so to protect Konoha. That is why I used my resources when constructing the ANBU and resources I gathered since then to create a division which is to remain a secret from the village. I have named this division ROOT because those within shall live in darkness so that the rest of Konoha can live in the light." Tobirama explained before looking at Danzo with the most serious expression that Danzo had ever seen upon his face. "Danzo, your mission will be to become the commander of this division."

Danzo stood there, momentarily stunned at all that had just been revealed to him before managing to ask, "If I may ask Hokage-sama, why me, why not Sarutobi? After all he is your student."

"But that's just the problem," Tobirama replied. "Unfortunately Sarutobi has also fallen under my brother's charismatic spell and believes wholly in the Will of Fire. He truly believes that everybody in Konoha is his family and that everybody should be willing to die for their village. Sarutobi would make a fine Hokage someday because of that belief and his mind; however, he would make a horrible leader of ROOT because he would be unable to view Konoha objectively. He would not be willing to order the death of somebody who is a traitor without concrete evidence."

"The most devastating criminal is one who can successfully hide his crimes," Danzo stated remembering a lesson from his younger days.

"Correct, the leader of ROOT must be willing to do whatever is necessary for the good of the whole of Konoha, be it killing a suspected traitor, assassinating the leader of a nation who will not deal favorably with us, or setting up an ally to be harmed in a way that they could not become stronger than we are." Tobirama explained.

"I do not understand Hokage-sama, why are these jobs separated then?"

"Plausible deniability," Tobirama responded. "In the event one of our agents is caught, the Hokage can legitimately deny any knowledge of the actions of ROOT. The actions ROOT must perform are not the actions that a man who is to be a role model to the people. These actions must be done and kept secret even from the Hokage so he will not have to shoulder the burden of these secrets as well. The more secrets a man has the easier it will be for him to let something slip, how would it look for the Hokage to slip up and order non-ROOT members to perform a ROOT mission in a public setting?"

"You do not have faith in the future Hokages?"

"My brother was an optimistic idealist, Danzo, I am a pessimistic realist. I see the worst that can happen because I know that it can happen. Now then, what do you say Danzo, will you become my ROOT commander?"

Danzo was silent and stared off into space for a few minutes letting everything he had learned run through his head. The Hokage did not believe in what his brother had preached and had thus created counters to whatever enemies Konoha would face, hopefully, long before they would be needed. And now Tobirama Senju was asking him to lead what may very well be his greatest creation, a group that did not follow the Will of Fire and would do whatever is necessary to protect Konoha.

"Hokage-sama," Danzo answered drawing himself up as tall as he could, "I would be honored to become ROOT's commander and protect Konoha from all enemies outside and within its walls."

"Thank you Danzo," the Second Hokage replied, standing up and actually saluting Danzo. "Though Konoha shall never know of this, it shall always be in your debt." Tobirama's arm returned to the desk top and pressed a hidden button. "Please enter the room," he ordered. Danzo was surprised as a secret side door to the Hokage's office opened and two individuals walked in. Very little could be said about the first man as he wore a long tan trench coat with a hood pulled up over his head, which left him completely covered except for a pair of tinted goggles visible. The second man had a full head of blond hair pulled into a ponytail, hazel eyes, and a square jaw; he was dressed in a dark grey shirt and pants with a black jonin vest.

"Danzo allow me to introduce your two chief subordinates: Zaku Aburame" Tobirama gestured to the man in the trench coat who nodded and then gestured toward the other adding, "and Gozu Yamanaka. Gentlemen, this is your new commander, Danzo Shimura."

And the rest as they say is history. Within a few months, Danzo had assumed complete control over all of ROOT's operations without needing Tobirama's assistance, although Danzo knew that he could ask for his predecessor's help at anytime. Almost a year later, Danzo was placed on a mission with Tobirama, Tobirama's three students including his rival Sarutobi Hiruzen, and two other ninja. Tobirama sacrificed himself so that the six of them could escape, naming Sarutobi as his successor. It was exactly as Tobirama had explained to him a year earlier, Sarutobi made an excellent Hokage.

Danzo was shaken out of his reminiscing as a black haired child with pale skin knocked his opponent out with a crudely draw dog made out of ink. Danzo smirked at this new ability within his organization; the future of ROOT was looking much brighter.

* * *

Ibiki Morino had to perform many difficult tasks in his time as a shinobi, ranging from the simple escort of a beautiful red haired woman from the Land of Whirlpools to his most recent and dangerous mission to apprehend his brother and recover the Raijin. Some like the escort mission were overwhelming successes, while others like the last ended in complete failure. But now Ibiki was preparing himself for what might be his most difficult task to date, confronting the Hokage about Naruto Uzumaki.

"Enter," Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Third Hokage, ordered after Ibiki knocked on his door. The scarred shinobi quietly entered the room and stood at attention in front of the Hokage's desk. "Oh, hello Ibiki, I must admit I'm surprised to see you here, I was informed that the doctors had ordered you to take a week off. You're not trying to come back to work early are you?" Sarutobi asked with a smirk.

"No sir," Ibiki replied seriously. "I'm here on a more personal matter. What do you know about Naruto Uzumaki?" Sarutobi's smirk changed into a more neutral expression as he folded his hands and stared at Ibiki. "I'm afraid that much of the information about Naruto is restricted, even for an individual at your rank."

"I'm asking about what you know about, where he lives, who takes care of him, that sort of thing." Sarutobi's expression changed again to mild confusion at Ibiki's expressionless face.

"While I have not seen him personally in the past couple weeks or so, I received a report from the matron of the orphanage Naruto stays at stating he is happy and well adjusted. This has been corroborated by reports from the ANBU who watch over him occasionally." Sarutobi replied curiously.

"And when were these reports filed, Lord Hokage?" Ibiki asked, maintaining his professional demeanor.

"Today, only a few hours ago." Sarutobi replied. "Why?"

"Because Naruto Uzumaki is not at any orphanage, nor has he been in any orphanage for at least a week. When I came across him earlier today, he was digging for food out of a garbage can. I managed to convince him to return with me to my apartment to have a decent meal and now he is currently sleeping on my couch being watched over by a clone." Ibiki answered, traces of anger now seeping into his voice.

"What?" Sarutobi asked in a mixture of shock and anger. "Are you telling me that I have been lied to for weeks now?"

"I'm afraid so Lord Hokage," Ibiki replied. "It would seem that those who have been looking after Naruto do not have his best interests in mind.

"Rest assured Ibiki, those responsible will answer for this."

"When the time comes I will personally interrogate them," Ibiki stated, firm conviction in his voice.

"Thank you Ibiki," Sarutobi said, "I hope that your services will not be required. If there is nothing else…"

"I have a second reason for coming here this evening Lord Hokage," Ibiki said, still professionally, but to the trained ear, a hint of sympathy had now crept into his voice. "I would like to formally apply to become Naruto Uzumaki's legal guardian."

It took all of Sarutobi's years of training to prevent his eyes from bugging out and his jaw from breaking his desk. Ibiki Morino, one of the hardest, toughest men in the entirety of the Konoha shinobi forces was actually displaying concern over another human being…and Naruto Uzumaki to boot. The aged Hokage's mind quickly ran through all of the possible implications of this arrangement, pros and cons.

Sarutobi's original plan was for Naruto to be raised by Jiraiya; that fell through as Jiraiya's spy network had suffered multiple attacks shortly after Naruto's birth. The past few years of Jiraiya's life had been divided between recruiting new spies, 'silencing' the spies that had been identified so they would be unable to tell what they had passed on, hunting Orochimaru after he had defected almost a year ago, and 'research'. All of these were absolutely vital to the safety and security of Konoha…well maybe not the research so much, but it did help Sarutobi's fantasy life…especially the chapter in his latest book about the twin blond buxom teenage hot spring owners who were looking for that special man to…sorry, where was I? Oh yeah, Naruto's well being.

Anyway, with Jiraiya away, Naruto's godmother MIA, and no other relatives, Sarutobi had placed Naruto into what he thought would be the best place for the young jinchuriki, the orphanage. Sarutobi hoped that Naruto would form friendships with the orphaned children like himself which would strengthen his bonds to the village. But now, with this revelation that the orphanage's matron was not treating him nearly as nicely as he should have been treated and had thrown him out…Sarutobi's plans were quickly going up in smoke. If Naruto did not have anybody to rely on, how could he develop a Will of Fire, a desire to protect the village with every fiber of his being, to be willing to sacrifice himself to save his home? But then, the gears of his mind turned again and Sarutobi realized that all might not be lost.

"I am sorry Ibiki," Sarutobi answered in the most sympathetic voice he could. "But unfortunately all adoptions in the village must be approved by a panel from the village council."

"You had that made into law to hinder Danzo's ROOT efforts," Ibiki said. "And with the current climate of the villagers and the council…"

"It is unlikely that any attempt by anybody to adopt Naruto would be permitted," Sarutobi finished before adding sarcastically, "'For the child's own protection.' I am sorry."

"Then perhaps an alternative could be offered Lord Hokage," Ibiki suggested. "My apartment building only has two or three tenants counting myself, and has the space for half a dozen more. Perhaps instead of being an official guardian, I could be an official neighbor."

Sarutobi smiled at one of his top interrogators, "Oh yes, Ibiki now that is something I believe could work." Sarutobi grabbed a scroll and began writing while thinking, 'Oh yes, this could definitely work, if everything plays out as I hope, the Will of Fire will burn brightly in these two."

* * *

In a mountain cave in one of the less frequented corners of the Elemental Nations an unusual event was taking place. Within this cave lay a stone box which for all intents and purposes looked like a coffin, except that this coffin was inlayed with a myriad of seals. An alarm siren filled the cave causing all who dwelled within to rush to the chamber housing the coffin, in time to see the coffin rise to an inclined position. The top half of the lid slid open, revealing a man with a variety of bandages covering all but the right side of his face, and leaving his long black hair free.

"Stay back," the leader ordered as two of his men moved forward to get a better look at the man. "Let him recover consciousness on his own; the seals can only do so much."

As if on cue, the exposed right eye slowly opened as the man groaned. The casket man turned his head slightly from side to side to look at everybody before him. "Where am I?" he asked in a voice somewhat hoarse with disuse.

"You are in our home. Do you remember who you are?" the leader asked, in a tone that was laced with a hint of eagerness.

"I am…" the casket man paused, racking his brains, for clues. "It's something with a 'T'…and an 'I'. Teyaki? No. Itachi? No. I am…I am…" His voice filled with desperation as he struggled to recall that one simple fact about himself.

"It's okay," a female voice off to the side offered comfortingly. The voice's owner came forward and the man in casket came face to face with a woman with golden brown hair, a soft rounded face, and dark-grey eyes much like his own and those around him. "Take your time, it will come to you."

"It's hard." The man in the casket whined. "I want to remember, but I can't."

"It's okay," the woman repeated, gently caressing the exposed side of his face, like a mother would a child. The man in the casket closed his eye at the sensation as a small smile tugged on his face. The leader was split between angry and hopeful, angry at the woman ignoring his orders; but hopeful her way would work. The crowd was silent, unsure what to do until the silence was shattered by the man in the casket.

"TOBI!" He suddenly exclaimed as the name came to his mind. "My name is Tobi!"

"Very good," the woman said happily returning her hand to stroke Tobi's face. "I knew you could do it."

"Mmmm Hmmm. Tobi is a good boy," Tobi happily stated as he nuzzled into the woman's hand. "Can I have some dango?"

"I will have some prepared," the leader answered. "But in the meantime, Tobi; welcome to our home. We are the Cult of Madara."

_Author Note:_

_First of all, my profound thanks to my friend eienshi09 for all his hard work fixing my mistakes both plot and grammar wise, this chapter wouldn't even be a fraction of as good as it is without him._

_Yep, I've got Tobi and a Cult of Madara thing going here, never heard of a Cult of Madara anywhere else before, so I thought it be good. Also Ibiki is revealed as the guy Naruto crashed into and now Ibiki wants to take care of him and we got a bit of the history of ROOT. All in all, I'd say that's a lot to cover in one chapter. Questions, comments, complains, or suggestions, please put any or all of these into a review. I mean it, please review._

_But now for what many of you come here for, the Omake. You know how in the dub the Raijin kind of sounds like a light saber? That's what helped me think of this, enjoy._

Omake: Really, a Star Wars reference?

Danzo stood in front of the Hokage desk eager to prove his worth to Konoha once more. Sitting at the chair behind the desk sat Konoha's strongest shinobi, a man who could pull A-ranked Water jutsu out of thin air and wields the famed lightning sword: Raijin no Ken; Danzo was face to face with the grey-haired Nidaime Hokage, Tobirama Senju.

"Hello Danzo, How are you today?" Tobirama asked pleasantly.

"Fine Hokage-sama," Danzo replied formally. "And how are you?"

"Not well," Tobirama said sadly. "Danzo you do not yet realize your importance. You have only begun to discover your power. Join me, and I will complete your training. With our combined strength, we can end this destructive Shinobi World War and bring order to the Elemental Nations."

"Why should I join you?"

"If you only knew the power of the ROOT side. Your mother never told you what happened to your father."

"She told me enough. She told me that indirectly you killed him."

"No. **I **am your father."

"No, that's not likely to be true. It's improbable."

"Search your feelings; you _know_ it to be true!"

Danzo stood there silently before saying the words that would shake the Elemental Nations to its core. "DADDY!" Danzo suddenly leap forward over the desk onto Tobirama's lap and hugged him closely as he sobbed into his father's chest. "Oh daddy, I missed you so daddy. Why did you leave mommy?"

What Danzo didn't know was that Tobirama was lying to test him, but the Second Hokage just didn't have it in him to break the apparently emotionally sensitive shinobi's heart. And so from that day forward, Konoha flourished under Senju and Son.


End file.
